A journey into kindness
by Wealllive ina shipingsubmarine
Summary: What is Beast's malediction had been different?
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: Belle was my favorite Disney character when I was young. I love her independence (although I believed she would have been way more awesome with a tiger like Jasmine!). I love how she didn't compromise her personality to fit in and yet still be nice to the villagers. I love her love for books. I love how she handled the unsolicited attention of the very annoying Gaston.

But, I didn't like Adam (the Beast, if you prefer). I know the movie isn't all that long, so the Beast's redemption had to be short, but I always felt like he hadn't earned Belle's love properly.

I found also the malediction was dumb. First, it seems like nobody was there to guide Adam (seriously, when does an eleven years old prince open the door to strangers at night?). Secondly, being love doesn't make you a better person. And you don't need to be a nice person to be love or to love. Some serial killers have a girlfriend or a wife, it does not make them decent human being by magic! Thirdly, why didn't the curse forced him to learn empathy? It would have taught him the content of your heart should count more than your appearance even better than the original curse, no?

It would have been a real transformation. And he probably would have won Belle's love in the process, too. So, let's see what happens when the fairy decides to give Adam a lesson of empathy instead!

P.S.: Thank you in advance for your patience! I tend to write small pieces at a slow pace. I am making a lot of efforts to write more often, thought.

Once upon a time, in a far away land, a young prince lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desire, the prince was spoiled, selfish and unkind.

But, then, once into the night, an old begging woman came to the castle. She offered him a single rose in return for shelter against the rain and the bitter cold.

Repulsed, the prince took away the gift and turned the old woman away. But she warned him not to be deceive by appearances, for beauty is found within.

When he dismissed her again, the old woman's ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress. The prince tried to apologise, but it was too late for she had seen that there was no love in his heart.

As a punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast and placed a powerful spell on the castle and all who lives there.

Ashamed of his monstrous form, the beast concealed himself inside his castle with a magic mirror as his only window the outside world.

The rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose which would bloom until his 21 years. If he could make as many kind gestures as the rose has petals, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all times.

As the years has past, he felt into despair and lost all hope. For who would want to receive help from a beast?


	2. Je veux vivre autre chose que cette vie

p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"Author's note: I know it an unusual choice, but I'm using the 1991 French version of the song for reference (yes, I speak French and yes, I am that old!). I feel like the French version is nicer to the villagers. Having Belle saying, « I want a different life »/span span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"is not the same as having her say, « I want much more than this provincial life.»/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center" /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"« Come on, Belle, hurry! Two or three axe blows and you will be safe from this giant!» she toughed./span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"But just as the bean began to timber, the sound of the roster woke her up. She lay awake for a few minutes, hoping the dream would come back. Unfortunately, today will be like every other day since they moved in this quiet village./span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"She would wear the same clothes, do the same chores, heard the same litany of Bonjour!, eat the same food…/span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"It wasn't a bad life, for say. Many would feel blessed by a similar life. Many would be happy to find a husband and settle down in this quiet little village. Many would be pleased to get Gaston's (the local hero and most wanted bachelor) attention. But most people were not Belle…/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"Although she had ignored most of the rumours, she knew what the villagers thought of her. Beautiful but… Always in the clouds. Lost in her own personal universe. Disconnected with reality. Erratic. Strange. A walking mystery. An outsider. Someone unlike everyone they even saw. /span/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt;"span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"There was simply a gap between the village and her. /spanspan lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA;"Belle did not want safety, predictability and chit-chat. She was thirsty for adventures, novelty and in-depth conversations. She wanted to share her life with books and, maybe, a loving and understanding companion. She was hoping for a different life. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"She did make one friend, though. A very precious one. The old librarian. Today, as she brought back what she borrowed the previous day, he offered her a copy of her favourite book. She had read it twice already, but she was still very thankful. She loved novels full of battles, magic and bewitched princes! There was no better way to reach a fuller life than with books! Of that, Belle had always been sure./span/p 


End file.
